Opeth/Paradise Lost/Tapping The Vein/Beyond The Embrace
1/18/03 The Paladium - Worcester, MA
live review
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We've waited for what
seems like forever, but Opeth has returned to the states.
Ok, maybe we're actually spoiled, it's not often that a
band from Sweden plays Worcester 3 times in less than 2
years. Hell, Entombed hasn't come over since '98 (ahem).
First up this evening are local boys Beyond The Embrace, I
know they are local because they sound like the child of
Iron Maiden and Sweden's current metal scene. Come on guys,
Shadows Fall, All That Remains, (and later) Killswitch
Engage have already cornered it, the Western MA sound, one
born of the boredom and hard drugs of Springfield/Holyoke,
MA. It's been done, let's get a new sound from MA.
Next came Tapping The Vein who received the usual reaction
of "who the hell put these guys on the bill?". Not that
they'd fit perfectly on any bill, they are actually original.
Imagine if you will, heavy drums mixed with samples, simple
but hypnotic bass lines, guitar that goes from riffage to
just plain strange noises and strong female vocals. Sort
of a heavy Portishead on crack. I liked it, the crowd
looked like they'd been stunned with a cattle prod, Ah,
good stuff.
I've been waiting years for the next band, Paradise Lost
haven't toured here since 1993!!! Unfortunately you could
tell because I spotted about 7 other people besides myself
who seemed to know who the hell they were. The band finally
delivered their own brand of goth-infused hard rock to
the Worcester masses. The crowd didn't quite know what to
make of them even though they put on a great set, covering
a wide range of material from past to present. The crowd
got restless during the last song and a few intellectually
challenged individuals decided to sling beer cups at the band
who reacted with a good humored lyrical improvisation. The
show was not exactly the reaction I was hoping for,
hopefully the U.S. will eventually catch on.
And finally there was Opeth. This is a band that pretty
much just stands onstage, they move a bit, but there's no
insane headbanging, no hopping around, leaping into the
crowd, no hanging from the rafters etc. Their music is so
beautifully intricate and sickly twisted that all they have
to do is stand there to have the crowd in awe. Their soft
spoken vocalist doesn't talk much, just announces a few
songs, yet they can whip up a pit effortlessly. The set
seemed short, but that's probably due to the average Opeth
song clocking in at over 10 minutes. I think every album
was covered in the set, but there were no sneak peaks of
"Damnation" (sorry kids, you'll have to wait until the
next leg of the tour). The show was amazing as it has been
everytime they've come to town, the guitar work, crazy
time changes, and overall dumbfounding arrangements flowed
seamlessly into one another. Truly a fucking amazing band.
Reviewed by: Wolfie
Rating:
live review
Home |
Interviews |
Live Pictures |
Reviews |
News |
Tourdates |
Message Boardz |
Metal Dictionary |
Metal Chat |
Links |
Search |
CD Store |
Trade Index |
Mailing List |
We've waited for what
seems like forever, but Opeth has returned to the states.
Ok, maybe we're actually spoiled, it's not often that a
band from Sweden plays Worcester 3 times in less than 2
years. Hell, Entombed hasn't come over since '98 (ahem).
First up this evening are local boys Beyond The Embrace, I
know they are local because they sound like the child of
Iron Maiden and Sweden's current metal scene. Come on guys,
Shadows Fall, All That Remains, (and later) Killswitch
Engage have already cornered it, the Western MA sound, one
born of the boredom and hard drugs of Springfield/Holyoke,
MA. It's been done, let's get a new sound from MA.
Next came Tapping The Vein who received the usual reaction
of "who the hell put these guys on the bill?". Not that
they'd fit perfectly on any bill, they are actually original.
Imagine if you will, heavy drums mixed with samples, simple
but hypnotic bass lines, guitar that goes from riffage to
just plain strange noises and strong female vocals. Sort
of a heavy Portishead on crack. I liked it, the crowd
looked like they'd been stunned with a cattle prod, Ah,
good stuff.
I've been waiting years for the next band, Paradise Lost
haven't toured here since 1993!!! Unfortunately you could
tell because I spotted about 7 other people besides myself
who seemed to know who the hell they were. The band finally
delivered their own brand of goth-infused hard rock to
the Worcester masses. The crowd didn't quite know what to
make of them even though they put on a great set, covering
a wide range of material from past to present. The crowd
got restless during the last song and a few intellectually
challenged individuals decided to sling beer cups at the band
who reacted with a good humored lyrical improvisation. The
show was not exactly the reaction I was hoping for,
hopefully the U.S. will eventually catch on.
And finally there was Opeth. This is a band that pretty
much just stands onstage, they move a bit, but there's no
insane headbanging, no hopping around, leaping into the
crowd, no hanging from the rafters etc. Their music is so
beautifully intricate and sickly twisted that all they have
to do is stand there to have the crowd in awe. Their soft
spoken vocalist doesn't talk much, just announces a few
songs, yet they can whip up a pit effortlessly. The set
seemed short, but that's probably due to the average Opeth
song clocking in at over 10 minutes. I think every album
was covered in the set, but there were no sneak peaks of
"Damnation" (sorry kids, you'll have to wait until the
next leg of the tour). The show was amazing as it has been
everytime they've come to town, the guitar work, crazy
time changes, and overall dumbfounding arrangements flowed
seamlessly into one another. Truly a fucking amazing band.
Reviewed by: Wolfie
Rating:
Home |
Interviews |
Live Pictures |
Reviews |
News |
Tourdates |
Message Boardz |
Metal Dictionary |
Metal Chat |
Links |
Search |
CD Store |
Trade Index |
Mailing List |
We've waited for what
seems like forever, but Opeth has returned to the states.
Ok, maybe we're actually spoiled, it's not often that a
band from Sweden plays Worcester 3 times in less than 2
years. Hell, Entombed hasn't come over since '98 (ahem).
First up this evening are local boys Beyond The Embrace, I
know they are local because they sound like the child of
Iron Maiden and Sweden's current metal scene. Come on guys,
Shadows Fall, All That Remains, (and later) Killswitch
Engage have already cornered it, the Western MA sound, one
born of the boredom and hard drugs of Springfield/Holyoke,
MA. It's been done, let's get a new sound from MA.
Next came Tapping The Vein who received the usual reaction
of "who the hell put these guys on the bill?". Not that
they'd fit perfectly on any bill, they are actually original.
Imagine if you will, heavy drums mixed with samples, simple
but hypnotic bass lines, guitar that goes from riffage to
just plain strange noises and strong female vocals. Sort
of a heavy Portishead on crack. I liked it, the crowd
looked like they'd been stunned with a cattle prod, Ah,
good stuff.
I've been waiting years for the next band, Paradise Lost
haven't toured here since 1993!!! Unfortunately you could
tell because I spotted about 7 other people besides myself
who seemed to know who the hell they were. The band finally
delivered their own brand of goth-infused hard rock to
the Worcester masses. The crowd didn't quite know what to
make of them even though they put on a great set, covering
a wide range of material from past to present. The crowd
got restless during the last song and a few intellectually
challenged individuals decided to sling beer cups at the band
who reacted with a good humored lyrical improvisation. The
show was not exactly the reaction I was hoping for,
hopefully the U.S. will eventually catch on.
And finally there was Opeth. This is a band that pretty
much just stands onstage, they move a bit, but there's no
insane headbanging, no hopping around, leaping into the
crowd, no hanging from the rafters etc. Their music is so
beautifully intricate and sickly twisted that all they have
to do is stand there to have the crowd in awe. Their soft
spoken vocalist doesn't talk much, just announces a few
songs, yet they can whip up a pit effortlessly. The set
seemed short, but that's probably due to the average Opeth
song clocking in at over 10 minutes. I think every album
was covered in the set, but there were no sneak peaks of
"Damnation" (sorry kids, you'll have to wait until the
next leg of the tour). The show was amazing as it has been
everytime they've come to town, the guitar work, crazy
time changes, and overall dumbfounding arrangements flowed
seamlessly into one another. Truly a fucking amazing band.
Reviewed by: Wolfie
Rating:
Reviewed by: Wolfie
Rating:
We've waited for what
seems like forever, but Opeth has returned to the states.
Ok, maybe we're actually spoiled, it's not often that a
band from Sweden plays Worcester 3 times in less than 2
years. Hell, Entombed hasn't come over since '98 (ahem).
First up this evening are local boys Beyond The Embrace, I
know they are local because they sound like the child of
Iron Maiden and Sweden's current metal scene. Come on guys,
Shadows Fall, All That Remains, (and later) Killswitch
Engage have already cornered it, the Western MA sound, one
born of the boredom and hard drugs of Springfield/Holyoke,
MA. It's been done, let's get a new sound from MA.
Next came Tapping The Vein who received the usual reaction
of "who the hell put these guys on the bill?". Not that
they'd fit perfectly on any bill, they are actually original.
Imagine if you will, heavy drums mixed with samples, simple
but hypnotic bass lines, guitar that goes from riffage to
just plain strange noises and strong female vocals. Sort
of a heavy Portishead on crack. I liked it, the crowd
looked like they'd been stunned with a cattle prod, Ah,
good stuff.
I've been waiting years for the next band, Paradise Lost
haven't toured here since 1993!!! Unfortunately you could
tell because I spotted about 7 other people besides myself
who seemed to know who the hell they were. The band finally
delivered their own brand of goth-infused hard rock to
the Worcester masses. The crowd didn't quite know what to
make of them even though they put on a great set, covering
a wide range of material from past to present. The crowd
got restless during the last song and a few intellectually
challenged individuals decided to sling beer cups at the band
who reacted with a good humored lyrical improvisation. The
show was not exactly the reaction I was hoping for,
hopefully the U.S. will eventually catch on.
And finally there was Opeth. This is a band that pretty
much just stands onstage, they move a bit, but there's no
insane headbanging, no hopping around, leaping into the
crowd, no hanging from the rafters etc. Their music is so
beautifully intricate and sickly twisted that all they have
to do is stand there to have the crowd in awe. Their soft
spoken vocalist doesn't talk much, just announces a few
songs, yet they can whip up a pit effortlessly. The set
seemed short, but that's probably due to the average Opeth
song clocking in at over 10 minutes. I think every album
was covered in the set, but there were no sneak peaks of
"Damnation" (sorry kids, you'll have to wait until the
next leg of the tour). The show was amazing as it has been
everytime they've come to town, the guitar work, crazy
time changes, and overall dumbfounding arrangements flowed
seamlessly into one another. Truly a fucking amazing band.